KSOC to pick candidate city for 2032 Games next week

Korea’s national Olympic committee will decide on a candidate city for its 2032 Summer Olympic Games bid next week, officials here said Friday.

The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) said the city will be decided at its general assembly on Monday. So far, Seoul and Busan have submitted applications to host the 2032 Olympics.

Korea plans to co-host the 2032 Olympics with North Korea. It will submit a letter of intent to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) when sports officials from the two Koreas and the IOC meet in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Feb. 15.

Under the process, Korea must select a candidate city before submitting its bid to the IOC.

The KSOC completed on-site inspections of the two cities from Jan. 23-25. Based on the findings from these visits, the KSOC members will cast their votes to select Korea’s candidate city.

Korea is trying to bring the Summer Olympics to its soil for the first time since 1988. The country is also hoping it can stage opening and closing ceremonies with Pyongyang.

The bidding competition for the 2032 Games is expected to begin in earnest in 2025.